Knighty2112

There is postulation that a comet hit the north American ice cap during the last ice age which did result supposedly in a catastrophic flood. The scablands in north america are supposed to bear witness to part of this flood. Not sure if it was supposed to cause world wide flooding, but certainly pretty bad in north America according to some geologists, but the idea resisted by others. Sounded reasonably plausable to me, but then i ain’t no expert!

Thats a lot to ask, especially for the portability & deep sky aspect. Love to see what others suggest, but an idea of budget might help too. If the skies in the Great Basin are dark then another option might be a good pair 20x70 binoculars. They are certainly well in the portability range, and even in my light polluted back garden back here in the UK i can see a fair amount of fuzzy stuff with them!

Any excuse to get to the pub ‘eh? hehe! A little to far away for me to come, but hope the meeting goes well for all who do attend. Cheers!

Hi Mark. It worked Ok on my first try with. Found I need to bring it a little closer in towards the other fence as the light from the lamp on the right still was an issue in some positions. Need more material to block light also in other parts too. Also, thinking of using thin wood at the top to hold the tarp and other material to block the light, so will be looking for some suitable wood to do this, as even with setting the guy ropes as tight as I could I couldn’t get the tarp as high as possible and tended to sag down.

Hi Robby, sadly this only impacts my hobby of astronomy, and not into any other areas where I could complain that it interferes with my sleep or quality of life in any other way, so I don’t believe the council would do anything just to accommodate me. Sadly, one of the perils of living in a large town or city.

Good luck with that one Doug!

Camping poles and tarp arrived today to try to shield that blooming LED streetlamp you can see on the right blaring away in my front garden. Hoping to test it a little tonight and see hows it goes! <fingers well crossed>

Might help if you tell us what make and model dob you have?

Take what you can get in this game, and don’t complain! <ducking for cover!>

Very nice for a single shot. 👍🏻

Hmnnn.........I wonder if normally opticians would be able to do a monocle, or weather you would need a more specialist optician? 🤔

I had 2 goto systems. One for alt az for quick set ups, and an eq mount. Sold them on in haste earlier this year, and now regret it. Whilst again using a mount manually gives you great pleasure when you eventually find the target your after, I do miss the beauty of a quick find especially when sky conditions prove tricky. Saving up for a dual az/eq goto mount for next year at some point.

Awesome picture! Well done! Sadly clouded over last night here, so going to try to see it tonight if possible.

A little like this example. https://images.app.goo.gl/AgfsWffE7Wf8XacF8

You binoculars has a tripod adapter bush from what I can see that will unscrew to allow you attach a tripod bracket adapter like the large porro one in the link. You can then attach them to a tripod to view with to hold them steadier. https://www.firstlightoptics.com/binocular-accessories/opticron-l-type-binocular-tripod-bracket-adapters.html

Well, normal phone weather app says it’s going to be nice and clear. FLO’s Clear Outside app says no. Looking good so far outside though, but I’ll see how it is in just under 3 hours after leaving the movies after watching the 2nd part of the remake of IT! 👻👻👻

Not sure on that, but I have a feeling it may just be a smidgeon too much for it, although I’ve not owned one of those mounts so don’t know what it can in reality actually handle.

The view in my smaller ‘frac with an 8mm EP, reversed as seen in the EP, if the skies play ball of course!

Fingers crossed for clear skies then! 🤞🏻👍🏻

EQ mounts also mess up the position of the EP as you move it around. From one position it might be great to view from, but 180 degrees round the other side of the mount is a whole other thing and might have you looking at the EP from low down at a strange angle. Go for az to start with for sure.

Forget Pluto mate. You are never going to see it visually, and as Geoff says you could see it with a large scope with a good time exposure only. Even the guy who discovered it had to use photography, and muliple different night exposures to actually notice Pluto right there at the edge of the solar system. Concentrate on all the other 8 planets in the solar system, which with patience and perseverance are visible in modest scopes quite easily.

As the ASIAIR is basically a Raspberry Pi in fancy clothes, you get similar issues on PI’s when running too much from the USB sockets. It is recommended to use a powered USB hub to connect up if you get this issue. I know i have had it on my Raspberry Pi which I overcame with using a powered USB hub to connect things up to it.

Short answer; yes. Long answer; yes, with a decent EP 20mm or less.

Nice try, but no cigar as they say!

I’ve just got a pair of Celestron Skymaster 25x70 binos in the UK at a steal of a price, and they work excellently too. Bring out plenty of fuzzies up there, even in my light polluted back garden.